SATB2

Background

SATB2 is a DNA-binding protein that specifically binds nuclear matrix attachment regions and is involved in transcriptional regulation and chromatin remodeling, playing developmental role in craniofacial, neural, and osteoblastic differentiation. The SATB2 protein is mainly expressed in the epithelial cells of the colon and rectum, followed by the nuclei of neurons in the brain. SATB2 is highly expressed in colorectal cancer, but weakly positive or not expressed in other tumors, such as gastric adenocarcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma and ovarian cancer. IHC for SATB2 can be used as a marker to determine the origin of a cancer of unknown primary site, SATB2 positive indicates the source of lower gastrointestinal tract. Recent studies have shown that SATB2 is also a marker of osteoblast differentiation and can be used in the diagnosis of osteosarcoma.